Simone Luzzatto

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Simone Luzzatto (Hebrew: שמחה לוצאטו) was a prominent Rabbi in the Jewish ghetto of Venice, Italy until his death in 1663 (he was born in 1583). He shared the rabbinate of Venice with another very famous rabbi, Leone de Modena. Luzzatto was educated by many of the most outstanding rabbis of his period. By the age of 22, many of his works were being published and discussed throughout the Jewish community. He authored many such works, called responsa, and gained him a good deal of popularity; including a rather interesting one that deemed it was acceptable to travel by gondola on the sabbath (a day during which motorized travel is normally forbidden).

During this period there were a great many Jews who were being expelled from their homes throughout Italy (and, indeed, the rest of Europe). Fearing the same fate might befall Venetian Jewry, Luzzatto took pre-emptive action, writing a pamphlet in classical Socratic style which presented clear and rational arguments against such an expulsion taking place in Venice.

The resulting work, entitled Discorso circa il stato de gl'Hebrei et in particolar dimoranti nell'inclita città di Venetia ("Discourse Concerning the Condition of the Jews, and in particular those living in the Fair City of Venice") was completed in 1638. Breaking from previous Rabbinic tradition, his work was not directly addressed to Venetian Jewry (nor to the official rabbinate of the time), instead it was addressed to the leaders of the Venetian Republic (the 'doge', among others). Luzzatto argued for toleration of the Jews on the basis of their economic and social usefulness. The Jews, he wrote, performed tasks usually done by foreign merchants but, advantageously, remained under the control of the republic.

Further breaking from tradition, the discourse was not written in Hebrew, but rather in very eloquent Italian. Due to many of these factors the discourse was effective in its goal of not only encouraging the Doge to rule against the expulsion edict, but also to succeed in its task of anti-defamation. The Jewish population of Venice was allowed to remain and the crisis was averted.

Another of his important works written in [[Italian language|Italian] is entitled Socrate, which argues that human reason cannot attain its goals if unaided by divine revelation.